Mamata Banerjee vs Ritabrata faction before ECI over TMC name, symbol and control
With September 16 as the last date for filing nominations, both groups have urged the ECI poll panel to take a decision at the earliest.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) convened on Saturday to address a dispute between two factions of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) vying for control of the party's name, symbol, and organizational power ahead of impending by-elections in two West Bengal assembly seats. This conflict arose amidst the factions' preparations for their first electoral contest in the October 6 bypolls for Nandigram and Rejinagar.
Kalyan Banerjee, an MP and member of the five-member delegation representing Mamata Banerjee's faction, revealed the ECI had posed queries, to which Mamata's side had provided responses. However, they await the commission's final decision. The TMC's five-member delegation, comprising Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Sagarika Ghose, Saket Gokhale, and advocate Abhinav Singh, argued there was no genuine dispute to adjudicate.
They cited their party's internal elections held every five years, since 2006, to choose the chairperson and national working committee, asserting the chairperson and committee hold a five-year term. Additionally, they pointed out that rebel MLAs contested recent assembly elections using the party symbol under Banerjee's chairmanship and had received ₹25 lakh each from the party for campaign funding.
The Ritabrata faction, consisting of approximately 60 of the 80 newly elected TMC MLAs who withdrew following the party's loss in the assembly elections, deemed their meeting with the ECI "very fruitful". Ritabrata Banerjee, leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, emphasized that the TMC is not a family enterprise nor an ancestral property.
She stated that the party belongs to grassroots workers and criticized the incumbent faction's "family-centric" attitude. The Ritabrata faction has requested the ECI to make a decision as soon as possible, given the September 16 deadline for filing nominations for the upcoming by-elections.
Meanwhile, the dispute has escalated beyond party symbolism, encompassing control over the party's office and financial resources. The TMC headquarters was shut down due to friction between the factions, and party accounts were frozen. Ritabrata Banerjee cautioned that the outcome might see neither faction granted the party's symbol, hinting at potential disintegration of the TMC. The ECI has not yet commented on these developments.
Written by urgent.news from Hindustan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
